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"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -- Thomas Mann

If so, I must be a writer.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Is The NY Times Finally Doing Its Job?

It appears so. They're not just a Bushco stenographic pool. We all need such reporting.

When future generations of Americans look back on the current era, they’ll puzzle over what it was about George W. Bush that made people imagine there was anything compassionate to his conservatism.

Having apparently lost all hope that he can use terrorism to scare voters into electing Republicans this November, the president has now begun raising the threat of gay marriage.

The moment the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a ruling on the subject this week, Mr. Bush began using every possible excuse to bring up “activist” judges and gay weddings on the campaign trail. “I mentioned his love for his family,” Mr. Bush said at a rally for a Republican Senate candidate in Michigan. “He understands what I know, that marriage is a fundamental institution of our civilization. Yesterday in New Jersey we had another activist court issue a ruling ...”

The court in New Jersey, for what it’s worth, was hardly activist. The State Legislature had given gay couples the ability to unite in domestic partnerships that gave them most, but not all, of the legal protections available to married heterosexuals. The court simply said that both kinds of partners deserved the same legal protection, and left it up to the lawmakers to figure out how to do it. Hardly a thunderbolt from the sky, but Mr. Bush took up the cause of protecting the “sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society” as if a cadre of antifamily jurists had just abolished matrimony.

I've tried Bushco's approach and it doesn't work. Repeat "compassionate" over and over and you don't become compassionate. I know. I've repeated over and over I'm a super hero and can fly. Well, my broken wrist proves I can't fly. Hell, I can't even bounce very well.

Yeah, Your Family's Dead. Mistakes Were Made. My Bad

Its death, folks. Innocents are losing their lives every day in the Mid-East. And the numbers keep growing.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. James Jones promised Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference Saturday that a full investigation of an incident involving the unintended death of around 70 Afghan civilians would be launched.

Karzai has already assembled a team to investigate reports of civilian casualties caused by NATO air operations in southern Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Karzai issued a presidential decree to look into reports stemming from incidents in the Panjwayi and Pashmul districts of Kandahar province.

The team is made up of tribal and community elders from various districts of Kandahar province.

"The team has been asked to prepare a full and complete account of the incident and identify its causes and victims," Karzai said in a news release.

"The team will investigate the reports of civilian casualties and damages inflicted in this operation. They will also present their suggestions to the president on how such unfortunate incidents could be prevented in the future."

Also, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it and the Afghan Defense Ministry are conducting a joint investigation into a Tuesday incident "in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, in which a number of civilians were killed along with a large number of insurgents."

ISAF commander Gen. David Richards, speaking to reporters in Kabul Saturday, said "in the night in the fog of war, mistakes were made."

Iraq Confuses Me. How About You?

October became the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers in Iraq in nearly two years on Saturday with the announcement of the death of a U.S. Marine in the western Anbar province.

A brief military statement said the Marine died from wounds sustained in an attack on Friday in Anbar, the heartland of Iraq's Sunni Muslim insurgency.

It brought the number of U.S. forces killed so far this month to 98, the highest since January 2005 when 107 were killed, capping a difficult week over Iraq for U.S. President George W. Bush ahead of the November 7 congressional elections.

The violence is even harder on Iraqis. The U.S. commander in Iraq said this week 300 Iraqi security forces were killed during the holy month of Ramadan which has just ended.

Gunmen kidnapped 11 Iraqi soldiers at a fake checkpoint north of Baghdad on Saturday, officials said.

That incident drove home the difficulties of building an effective Iraqi security force, a key plank in Bush's plans for an eventual withdrawal of 140,000 U.S. troops.

But Rummy doesn't seem to think so.

Cheney then pointed to various news items to paint a positive picture of conditions in Iraq and concluded, "If you look at the general overall situation, they're doing remarkably well."

"Do you ever get news or information about candidates and campaigns for the upcoming elections from the Internet or not?"

Asked of those who answered "Yes" to question above:"For each of the following, please tell me if you have used this resource as a way of obtaining information about candidates and the campaign for the upcoming congressional elections on the Internet, or not. How about . . . ?"

Feeling secure? Well don't #11

Maybe its best the GOP not point to how safe they are making US and how the Dems won't be as good. This is really pathetic.

Screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the starting points for the Sept. 11 hijackers, failed 20 of 22 security tests conducted by undercover U.S. agents last week, missing concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the major air hub's three terminals, according to federal security officials.

The tests, conducted Oct. 19 by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, also revealed failures by screeners to follow standard operating procedures while checking passengers and their baggage for prohibited items, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We can do better, and training is the path to improved performance," said Mark Hatfield Jr., the Newark airport's federal security director. The poor test results at Newark come after heightened security procedures that the TSA put in place at U.S. airports in August.

US-NoKorea Talks Coming?

The United States is willing to hold bilateral talks with North Korea on the condition it returns to the six-nation dialogue on ending its nuclear program, the US ambassador to Japan said.

North Korea, which declared on October 9 it had tested its first atomic bomb, has long sought one-on-one talks with US President George W. Bush's administration.

Bush administration officials have repeatedly met one-on-one with North Korea, but only on the sidelines of six-nation talks, which started in 2003.

...

North Korea stormed out of the talks -- which also included China, Japan, Russia and South Korea -- in November last year, to protest US sanctions on a Macau bank accused of laundering and counterfeiting money for Pyongyang.

Just two months before the boycott, North Korea agreed in general terms, at the fifth and last round of six-way talks, to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

Yeah GOP, Campaign On The Economy

Just make sure you don't talk manufacturing jobs.

The Ford assembly plant in Atlanta, Ga. that produced some of America's most popular sedans and pickups since it opened in 1947 closed its doors Friday after assembling the struggling company's last Taurus.

Ironic, because it was the Ford Taurus that stemmed the wave of Japanese imports to become America's best-selling sedan from 1992 to 1996. The car's best year came in 1992, when it sold 409,751 cars.

Cat Blogging

Just One More Fuck Up For Dim Son

He can't even get the Apocalypse right. Maybe its good the US has a total failure in charge.

Voters should oust congressional Republican leaders because U.S. foreign policy is delaying the second coming of Jesus Christ, according to a [sic] evangelical preacher trying to influence closely contested political races.

K.A. Paul railed against the war in Iraq on Sunday before a crowd of 1,000 at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, his first stop on what he hopes is a 30-city campaign.

The Houston-based preacher said he believes that the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria.

Poor Poor Michael J Fox

Katie Couric interviewed Michael J Fox who came off as pure class in response to Limpbaugh's comments:

Well, first thing, he used the word victim. And on another occasion I heard him use the word pitiable. And understand, nobody in this position wants pity. We don't want pity. I could [sic] give a damn about Rush Limbaugh's pity or anyone else's pity. I'm not a victim. I'm someone who is in this situation. I think I'm in this situation along with millions of other Americans, and we have a right, if there's [sic] answers out there, to pursue those answers with the full support of our politicians. And so I don't need anyone's permission to do that.

OMG!!!1!!

Followup To Earlier Post About Vote Fraud

Ya think the election on November 7 will be fair and honest? I doubt it. I just hope the Dems can uncover the fraud.

White House political head honcho Karl Rove was interviewed by National Public Radio yesterday. He effectively announced plans to steal the coming elections. The polls point decisively to a Democratic majority in the House, and possibly in the Senate. Yet Rove told NPR he was certain of Republican majorities in both houses, and gave laughable reasons for his claim. Rove had no actual evidence to point to.

Now, this could be seen as the obsessive lying of a political hack, were it not for the fact that Rove's party has stolen elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004, has recently increased dramatically the opportunities for election fraud (with new machines, new ID requirements, new purging techniques), and has already begun dirty tricks in a number of states (including machine foul ups already in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, and the U.S. military). Rove's strategy is clearly to steal the elections and to put forth a paper-thin excuse to justify it, one he hopes the corporate media will (again) accept. How do we know that's Rove's strategy? Because he announced it yesterday on NPR.

The World In Simple Terms

One of the more reality-defying aspects of President Bush's position on the war in Iraq is his insistence that we're winning.

That was a central theme at yesterday's press conference. Here's the transcript .

"Absolutely, we're winning," Bush said. "As a matter of fact, my view is the only way we lose in Iraq is if we leave before the job is done."

With the body counts soaring, the country descending deeper into civil war and the central government consistently unable to assert itself, how can he call this winning?

The answer: It's becoming increasingly clear that Bush sees the war in Iraq in very simple terms. As he himself said, he believes that the only way to lose is to leave. Therefore anything else is winning -- anything else at all.

Even if no progress is being made -- even if things are getting worse, rather than better -- simply staying is winning.

Unintended Consequences?

Or just monumental stupidity?

"Washington's new law allowing tough interrogation techniques and military trials for terrorism suspects risks setting a dangerous standard for other countries to follow, a United Nations rights expert said on Friday.

Martin Scheinin, the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, said he was concerned about the impact the U.S. Military Commissions Act would have abroad.

"Some governments may view certain aspects of this legislation as an example that could be followed in their national counter-terrorism legislation," the Finnish jurist said in a statement released in Geneva."

Must Read IMHO

Have I mentioned I love Molly Ivins? Yeah, I thought I had. Anyway, read her latest. A little bit to whet your appetite:

It's a race to the bottom. For misinformation and cruelty, not to mention plain old dreadful manners, it is so hard to beat Rush Limbaugh. We can only measure the Great Blowhard against himself.

Even by Limbaugh standards, his recent attack on Michael J. Fox, the actor, is several levels lower than tacky. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, has done some political ads favoring candidates who in turn support stem cell research.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told his listeners. "He is moving all around and shaking, and it's purely an act. This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting. This is the only time I've ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has."

The reaction from Parkinson's experts was swift and angry. "It's a shameless statement," said John Rogers of Parkinson's Action Network. "It's insulting. It's appallingly sad, at best."

So then Limbaugh, big-hearted guy, says while still on the air in the same broadcast: "Now, people are telling me they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear in the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial. ... All right, then, I stand corrected. ... So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act ... ."

Then Limbaugh went on to say, "Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democrat politician."

Exploiting his disease by pushing for a cure. Gee, I never thought of that. Do you think the late Christopher Reeve was faking it? Is Nancy Reagan exploiting her late husband? [emphasis mine]

This Fitzgerald Guy Is So Good

One has to admire the supreme competence of Patrick Fitzgerald. The guy's meticulous and knowledgeable. He possesses talent far superior to any Bushco people.

With withering and methodical dispatch, White House nemesis and prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald yesterday sliced up the first person called to the stand on behalf of the vice president's former chief of staff.

If I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was not afraid of the special counsel before, the former Cheney aide, who will face Fitzgerald in a trial beginning Jan. 11, had ample reason to start quaking after yesterday's Ginsu-like legal performance.

Fitzgerald's target in the witness box was Elizabeth F. Loftus, a professor of criminology and psychology at the University of California at Irvine. For more than an hour of the pretrial hearing, Loftus calmly explained to Judge Reggie B. Walton her three decades of expertise in human memory and witness testimony. Loftus asserted that, after copious scientific research, she has found that many potential jurors do not understand the limits of memory and that Libby should be allowed to call an expert to make that clear to them.

But when Fitzgerald got his chance to cross-examine Loftus about her findings, he had her stuttering to explain her own writings and backpedaling from her earlier assertions. Citing several of her publications, footnotes and the work of her peers, Fitzgerald got Loftus to acknowledge that the methodology she had used at times in her long academic career was not that scientific, that her conclusions about memory were conflicting, and that she had exaggerated a figure and a statement from her survey of D.C. jurors that favored the defense.

And So The Fix Begins

Dateline Georgia.

Last Friday, in an announcement that I for one failed to notice, the Department of Justice announced that Assistant US Attorney Jay Weimer has been appointed to guard against election fraud in the State of Georgia:

Alright! Someone will be responsible in Georgia for honest election returns. But wait, does this guy have any bias? Perhaps, considering he's posted the following on his website:

There has long been a trend among a significant segment of the left to blame America for any attack against it rather than consider that fault might lie at the feet of the attackers themselves. However, the left is now focusing its blame-America- first instincts not on the government, but on U.S. Companies and the millions of Americans who use their products and services. Clearly, John Kerry and Howard Dean know better than anyone what's best for the average American. Less clear is whether the average American might feel some resentment at being informed of this undeniable fact.

Body Dumping?

Authorities have launched a criminal investigation into suspected dumping of homeless people on Skid Row after police witnessed ambulances leaving five people on a street there during the weekend.

The city attorney's office is reviewing police videotapes and photographs of the five suspected dumping cases to determine whether the patients were falsely imprisoned during their transfer and whether the hospital, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, violated any laws regarding the treatment of patients.

Violated any laws? WTF? Of course they did. Dumping patients on the street has to be illegal if not, at least, immoral.

Dim Son The Educationer

Analogies Bush Has Drawn Between the Iraq War And Assorted Punctuation Marks

"I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, [the current violence] will look like just a comma."

"Our commitment to a free Iraq must end with an exclamation point, not an ellipsis."

"The overthrow of Saddam was an apostrophe, indicating possession of Iraq by its long-oppressed people."

"The only way to stop the sectarian violence is to find a bridge between the Sunnis and Shiites, a hyphen that will join the two separate party into one compound nation."

"We have enclosed the insurgents in parentheses, marking them as little more than an interruption to the rise of democracy that can be ignored without changing the overall meaning of the region's struggle for liberty."

"Though Saddam and Al Quada had no direct links, their relationship was that of a semi-colon, joining related but distinct proponents of terror."

"Setting a timetable for withdrawal would be like starting a Spanish sentence with an inverted question mark, a signal that all that follows is uncertain and conditional."

"When I sent my Secretary of State to the UN to make the case for war, I jokingly referred to him as Colon Powell, as he served to introduce an itemized list of our grievances against the Iraqi dictator."

"Victory is still possible in Iraq -- albeit a victory enclosed in scare quotes and followed by an asterisk."

This Can't Be Good

Iran is in Bushco's sights and that's all there is to it. An invasion is imminent.

There is a massive concentration of US naval power in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Two US naval strike groups are deployed: USS Enterprise, and USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The naval strike groups have been assigned to fighting the "global war on terrorism."

War Games

Concurrent with ths concentration of US Naval power, the US is also involved in military exercises in the Persian Gulf, which consists in "interdicting ships in the Gulf carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles"

The exercise is taking place as the United States and other major powers are considering sanctions including possible interdiction of ships on North Korea, following a reported nuclear test, and on Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council mandate to stop enriching uranium.

The exercise, set for Oct. 31, is the 25th to be organized under the U.S.-led 66-member Proliferation Security Initiative and the first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran, the officials said.

A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed at strengthening America’s ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing for influence"

If you thought Iraq was bad, just wait. Hell's about to break loose. Gawd I hope I'm wrong about that.

Justice John Roberts...Come On Down

I'm still undecided on Justice Roberts. I've had no squabbles with his performance so far, but this case may define him and the SCOTUS.

When Jesse Williams died of lung cancer, his widow sued Philip Morris, claiming it misled him about the danger of smoking. A jury agreed, awarding her $79.5 million in punitive damages. The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the award, calling Philip Morris’s decades of deception “extraordinarily reprehensible.”

The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case next week, and the broader business community has joined Philip Morris in asking the court to sharply reduce the damages. They are relying on a controversial line of recent cases in which the court struck down punitive damages awards that it deemed “excessive.”

The Philip Morris case will tell us a lot about the John Roberts court, which may be the most pro-business court in decades. It is a test of whether the court will abandon its conservative principles to be activist and “rights-making” when the party that needs help is a large corporation. It will also reveal whether the court will continue on its current disturbing path of giving corporations more protection from excessive punishment than it gives to people.

Are You Feeling The Stress?

For most Americans, their home is most of their net worth. So reduction in value is reduction in net worth. Pretty simple really.

So go ahead Repugs and campaign on the economy and watch the folks out there reject you because they are worth much less now because of you.

The price of existing homes last month fell 2.2 percent, the largest monthly decline in the almost four decades the number has been tracked, according to an industry report released yesterday.

Nationwide, the number of existing single-family homes sold fell 14.2 percent in September compared with September 2005, according to the report from the National Association of Realtors. The number of sales has fallen each month since March.

So thank you bushco for taking away what little Americans still had. Assholes.

We Wanna Leave

Notice in this story it is troops in Iraq saying they want out.

An overwhelming majority, 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the year. Among Reserves 90% favor withdrawal compared to 83% of the National Guard, 70% of the Army, and 58% of the Marines. Moreover, about three-quarters of National Guard and Reserve units favor withdrawal within 6 months.

Six months?!! Can you say there's no positive morale? Sure you can.UPDATE: RTO Trainer is correct (see comment). The date on the article is October 25, 2006, but cutting and pasting the URL, you're taken to the actual release which was February 28, 2006. I'm sorry I trusted the post I linked to and mistakenly misrepresented this as a new poll.

Must Read IMHO

This morning, I awakened to the news that five more US troops were just killed in Iraq, bringing the total this month to 96. October has been deathly cruel to Americans and to Iraqis.

Yesterday, during George Bush's news conference, the president did not say "stay the course" or "we will not step down until the Iraqis step up." Instead, he spoke of "benchmarks." Over and over he used the term, leaving me to question what standards he'll exercise to measure his continued failures. The other word Bush repeated was "believe." He said it 21 times. "I believe." Sounds quite Biblical as well as Karl Rovian. Of course, Karl is the manlike agnostic who tells George to convince his base of evangelicals that he (Bush) really, really, really believes.

According to Bob Woodward in a 60 Minutes interview conducted by Mike Wallace, the president has stated to Republicans that he will not withdraw from Iraq even if "Barney and Laura are the only ones who support me." From the number of e-mails I've received from the "disagreeables," those people who are reading my articles and asking me in Sean Hannityesque fervor why I hate America, I have to admit that several more among the animal kingdom, in addition to Barney-the-dog and Laura-the-wife, remain loyal in buttressing George. They really, really, really believe in Bush and the way he is "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

Its Politics 24/7

When I first saw this item my first thought was POLITICS!

The US-backed special tribunal in Baghdad signalled Monday that it will likely delay a verdict in the first trial of Saddam Hussein to November 5. Why hasn't the mainstream media connected the dots between the Saddam's judgment day and the midterm elections?

Here's how the story was reported pretty much everywhere: "An Iraqi court trying Saddam Hussein for the killing of Shi'ite villagers in the 1980s could deliver a verdict on November 5, officials said, a ruling which could send the ousted leader to the gallows…"

A possible death-sentence for Saddam and his top lieutenants on November 5? Now, shouldn't that raise a few eyebrows somewhere? If you happen to have a calendar close at hand, pull it over and take a quick look. That verdict would then come, curiously enough, just two days before the midterm elections. It's the sort of thing that--you would think--that any reporter with knowledge of the US election cycle (no less of how Karl Rove has worked these last years) would at least note in an article. But no, you can search high and low without finding a reference to this in the mainstream media.

I'm hoping, although without any justification, the electorate will not fall for this little kabuki dance. Yeah, they probably will.

Is This The US As You Imagine It To Be?

It sure ain't my America. Jesus H Crist on furlough (wow, but I nearly spelled that way wrong), what in hell is going on with the US?

The CIA tried to persuade Germany to silence EU protests about the human rights record of one of America's key allies in its clandestine torture flights programme, the Guardian can reveal.

According to a secret intelligence report, the CIA offered to let Germany have access to one of its citizens, an al-Qaida suspect being held in a Moroccan cell. But the US secret agents demanded that in return, Berlin should cooperate and "avert pressure from EU" over human rights abuses in the north African country. The report describes Morocco as a "valuable partner in the fight against terrorism".

Its become a country of liars, cheaters, adulterers, frauds, pedophiles and every unsavory type of person imaginable. No wonder other countries have no respect for US.

Too Kewl Medical Discovery

This could revolutionize healing.

Look out, Band-Aids — you're about to become obsolete. Researchers at MIT and Hong Kong University have come up with a liquid that can seal wounds in seconds. Composed of peptides (fragments of proteins), the liquid forms a gel when applied to an open wound, quickly stemming the flow of any blood. And there's no need to worry about removing the gel, since it breaks down into amino acids as the wound heals, aiding tissue repair. No waste, no side effects — nice. So far the new liquid doctor has had only a few lab rats as patients, but when it makes its way to humans, it could revolutionize surgeries by making it much easier to control bleeding.

About Me

Spent many years programming, mostly mainframes. Been in business for myself, sky dived, scuba dived, practiced karate (until the broken ribs & finger), driven a sprint car (unreal). Want the US to be great again and worry it's impossible. I consider myself a moderate because I believe most Americans don't approve of torture, do want everyone to have health care, a pension and/or a job, privacy, freedom and NO WAR. Not too radical. I use profanity like a sailor so you should leave if you are sensitive.

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